LOWELL — More than a dozen people addressed the state Department of Public Utilities during a recent public hearing on a petition by Boston Gas Company, doing business as National Grid, for a $342 million increase that will raise the total delivery service component of a customer’s gas bill.
It’s the company’s first gas rate filing since 2020. The company provides electricity distribution networks, high-voltage electricity transmission networks and gas distribution networks in New England.
While the majority of the speakers at the March 18 hearing asked the DPU to deny the rate request, John Buonopane, the subdistrict director for the United Steelworkers Union 12012, called the rate increase “necessary” to keep the gas utility’s systems “safe and reliable.”
“We support National Grid’s proposal because we care about the safety and reliability of this system. We see what happens firsthand when a gas system is not maintained,” he said, referring to the Merrimack Valley gas explosions of 2018.
In the mid-afternoon of Sept. 13, 2018, 131 fires, three explosions and numerous gas leaks struck the Lawrence, Andover and North Andover communities. One person was killed, about 25 people were injured, dozens of homes were destroyed, gas service to about 8,000 meters was cut off and hundreds of residents were evacuated.
An investigation found that then-Columbia Gas of Massachusetts violated the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act, which led to the disaster.
“Our people are the minders of that system,” Buonopane said. “These systems are absolutely necessary.”
National Grid’s filing kicked off an 11-month review process that will culminate with the DPU issuing an order in late November.
If the DPU approves the petition, starting Dec. 1, bills for almost 1 million customers in 144 communities will jump 10% during peak season, and about 20% in the peak off-season.
For residential heating customers in the former Colonial Gas area, which covers Cape Cod and several communities in the Merrimack Valley like Lowell, the average customer bill will go up by about $25 per month, which is a 10.9% increase in the first year.
The monthly bill impacts for commercial and industrial customers range from a decrease of almost 38% to an increase of almost 38%.
The majority of the speakers urged the DPU to either deny or reduce the rate increase, including Mary Wambui, a member of Lowell’s Sustainability Council.
She argued that the rate increase will cause “direct and measurable harm in Lowell.”
“People are limiting their energy use so that they are able to afford groceries,” Wambui said. “Energy poverty is a sign of failure of regulation … The (DPU) should not create another windfall profit for shareholders while we are struggling to pay our bills.”
The price of natural gas delivered to Massachusetts residential customers has risen steadily in the past three decades, according to statistics and analysis by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The United Kingdom-based company reported record revenues in 2025. In particular, National Grid New England, led by President Lisa Wieland, posted a 23% increase in total underlying operating profit for the six months that ended Sept. 30.
The company has already received significant regulatory approvals from DPU. In June, National Grid New England received approval for around $600 million investment under the Electric Sector Modernization Plan in Massachusetts that supports capital investment in networks and supporting technology, associated operating costs and non-wires alternatives for the next five years.
A company report released in November said National Grid New England’s “Underlying net revenue is expected to be around $400 million higher, driven primarily by rate increases and higher tracker revenue.”
The proposed rate increase concerned Anne Marie Bolduc, of Dracut, who called National Grid a “regulatory monopoly.”
“A rate increase is a privilege in exchange for safe, reliable and professional service,” she said. “National Grid’s recent performance process has not met this standard.”
Bolduc was referencing a billing failure during the winter of 2024-2025, when the company did not issue timely gas bills to approximately 30,000 customers. She called on the DPU to deny the increase.
Lowell resident Sarah Rapp, a member of 350MA of Greater Lowell, a climate justice movement, asked the DPU to consider ways in which National Grid is not investing in infrastructure that could decrease the cost of gas to its customers.
“National Grid walked away from the geothermal pilot proposal they had in the city of Lowell that not only would have potentially provided cheap energy to our residents in an environmental justice and poor community, but also would have set the stage to employ good union jobs for this kind of infrastructure,” Rapp said.
According to previous Sun reporting, the National Grid pilot project was meant to bring geothermal energy to homes in the Acre neighborhood, but was canceled in February 2025, with the energy company citing higher-than-expected costs.
The project was being done in partnership with the city of Lowell and UMass Lowell as one of up to four pilot programs that were approved for Massachusetts. National Grid had hoped to complete at least two projects, in Lowell and Dorchester, but now Dorchester is the only one remaining.
Rapp also asked the DPU to deny the utility’s rate increase.
The DPU will conduct in-person public hearings to receive comments on National Grid’s petition in the following communities through April:
• Thursday, March 26: Dennis-Yarmouth Intermediate Middle School, 286 Station Ave., South Yarmouth.
• Tuesday, March 31: Haverhill High School Auditorium, 137 Monument St., Haverhill.
• Monday, April 6: Breed Middle School Auditorium, 90 O’Callaghan Way, Lynn.
• Thursday, April 9: Acton Town Hall Auditorium, 472 Main St., Acton.
• Wednesday, April 15: Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, 1 South Station, Third Floor, Boston.
In addition to the in-person hearings, the DPU will conduct a virtual public hearing using Zoom videoconferencing on April 13. The session will begin at 7 p.m. Attendees can join either session by entering the link bit.ly/3PWsGfO.
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